Hebe Haven Yacht Club Peroni Summer Saturday Series - Race 6 re-sail, 7 and 8
by Rob Allen 30 Jul 2018 05:44 BST
30 July 2018
There could not have been a greater contrast between the stormy conditions that saw Race 6 abandoned on the 14th July 2018 and the fine conditions for the final race day of the Peroni Summer Saturday Series 2018, on Saturday the 28th of July 2018.
It was blue skies with puffs of cumuli hovering over the land and clear vistas out to the Nine Pins and beyond. It was also radiant and hot!
Two windward / leewards were fired off in quick succession with marks at a distance of 0.8 and 0.7 nautical miles into the 9- to 11-knot southeasterly, between 135 and 145 degrees.
Thirty-nine out of a total 52 boats turned out with X-Terminator, Havoc and FAB only showing up for the last day and a chance to enjoy the closing celebrations.
As was to be expected, there were several incidents with Tornado OCS in the HKPN start while a potential protest by Bits & Pieces against Kiasu! was not subsequently pursued. In the second race (Race 8), Ichiban retired after a start line incident having failed to complete its penalty turns.
The race officer, Hebe Haven Yacht Club's rear commodore (sailing), Bridget Chan, then chose to squeeze in a re-sail of the abandoned Race 6 from two weeks before.
The marks were brought in to 0.6 and 0.5nm for a short half-hour race for all but the slowest.
The Dragons were over eager with three called OCS failing to return.
In IRC, ignoring discards, Arcturus was leading Moll by four points going into the final day. Bob Vart's X-Terminator turned up and finished with three bullets. Juggerknot claimed line honours in all three races to finish 3rd in the series with Moll 2nd and Arcturus 1st.
Ricochet, the only sportsboat to compete in all eight races was, excluding discards, leading the series but, with two discards potentially coming in to play, Hot Wired was the one to beat. This is precisely what FAB did, scoring three bullets on handicap, leaving Merlin with three line honours and two handicap wins to take the series ahead of Hot Wired and Ricochet.
Having come 2nd in two earlier series, Ichiban was hoping to go one better in the Peroni Summer Saturday Series 2018, but it was not to be. Retiring in Race 8 cost it dearly, while Zam-Zammah upped their game with two bullets in Race 7 and Race 6 (re-sail) and a 3rd in Race 8 to take the HKPN series. Ichiban tied with Bits & Pieces on 17 points after discards with Ichiban clinging on to 2nd on countback with two earlier wins.
The final day was contested by just two of the three J-80s. Jelik 7 was unbeatable for the series and opted out... but just showed up for the party! This left Jive to finish 2nd in the series with three on the day over Jelik 6, which finished 3rd.
Twelve of the 16 participating Dragons gathered in Port Shelter which saw Wyuna claim 3rd in the series, Wudi 2nd and, with three bullets on the day, Zephyr the series title.
At the closing party, representatives from sponsors Peroni and Swims (shoes) presented the awards whilst complimentary burgers and chips were washed down with copious quantities of Peroni and, for the winners, kettles of Mount Gay. A great event and highly successful series put on by the Hebe Haven Yacht Club Sailing Office with the help of volunteer race management.